Producer Steve McCarthy travels to Damascus to report on the million Iraqi refugees that have flooded into Syria. 21 year old Joey Shene fled from Basra after insurgents tried to shoot him as he went to work for an American contractor. The Syrian government is overwhelmed with the refugees and is concerned about political instability.

Global warming is front and center in Washington with the passage of the climate bill in the House. Correspondent David Brancaccio looks below the surface at a growing body of evidence that suggests climate change is affecting the chemistry of the seas, which could have potentially catastrophic results on the way we live.

NBC Contributor Jonathan Alter tells the story of a rash of drug overdoses at the nation’s largest Veterans Administration facilities. The problem – the pharmacy is understaffed and began handing out 2 and three weeks supplies of pharmaceuticals.

Correspondent Lawrence O’Donnell reports on the get out the vote drive of a group called “Voto Latino.” Spanish language radio and social media are having an effect on driving out this fastest growing demographic to vote.

Dan Rather visits Nadia McCaffrey, the mother of Sgt Patrick McCaffrey, California National Guard. Sgt. McCaffrey was reported Killed in Action in Iraq. But His mother tell Dan Rather that she found out her son was ambushed by the Iraqi soldiers he was training and that the U.S. Military covered that story up.

Filmmaker Steve McCarthy explores the meaning of heroism by discovering the life of his friend, Captain Paddy Brown, NYC’s most decorated fireman who died on 9/11. McCarthy starts with Brown’s incredible acts of heroism, saving people from flames, breathing life into fire victims. Eventually, McCarthy finds a more complicated subtext: Brown’s childhood in an alcoholic home, his abuse by priests, his traumatic tour of duty as a Marine in Vietnam, his string of lovers. Paddy emerges as a classic hero—one profoundly flawed and driven to acts of bravery by complex motives, including a drive for penance, self-destruction, and the creation of his own legacy. Ultimately, Captain Brown seeks inner peace and in the course of that quest touches innumerable lives. At his moment of redemption, he climbs the stairs of the North Tower and dies comforting burn victims on an upper floor.